How to learn the notes on your guitar

This section has everything you need to know about notes on your guitar written out in correct notation and tablature.

Reading music can be confusing. I have been learning about music since I was around 7 and I still struggle remembering all the notes. Other people don’t seem to have to worry about this and can read music very fluently, lucky them! I play a lot by ear but I do have have to rely on my knowledge to go back to the music and work things out.

I have made some simple diagrams with the notes on the guitar in notation and tablature form with the names of the notes underneath. It’s a kind of cheat sheet for you to look at. I have excluded the sharps and flats as they can be worked out in between the notes. Being able to see the tab along side proper guitar notation is a really good way of getting you familiar with both ways of writing and reading music.

There is a little bit of music theory involved in this and I’ll give you just a slither of that below.

The guitar goes up the scale following the similar principles of the starting point of the major C scale on the piano.

Tone -Tone – Semitone – Tone – Tone – Tone – Semitone

C D E F G A B

A tone is 2 steps on the piano keyboard. A semitone is just one step. There is a semitone between E and F because they have no black notes between them. This applies also to B and C.

Think of this as a lesson to learn the notes along the fretboard and to become familiar with the notation written down along with the tab. Take a look at the pictures below and with your guitar play the notes as you go up the octave and say them out loud as you pluck the strings. Saying things out loud is a really good way of helping your brain try and remember things.

Try to devote a part of your practice time to learning the notes on the neck of your guitar, even if you just spend a few minutes concentrating on one string. It will really pay off in the long run.